A lesson hard learned...

So, for some reason this post vanished on me, I'm reposting it now.

Ola.

So, yeah, first things first, don't expect anymore pictures, I'll explain why in a bit.

Okay, yesterday, Celina (from Germany), Andriea (a Brazilian who lived in the states for a while) and I all went shopping at the Historical District in Sao Luis. We were dropped off at the bank there to meet up with Andriea (Celina spent the last week at my house). We walked around and looked at lots of things, eventually finding ourselves in a store that sold everything that had anything to do with hand care. It sold every kind of nail polish you could think of. (It even had camouflage nail polish! I kid you not!) We spent some time there, picking up lots of polish (Celina got upwards of twenty bottles... I got six.) We then walked around some more and picked up some paint (I also got a couple of hair clips that were kind of cool.)

We walked to the other side of the district and then, sitting in front of a police outpost, painted our faces to look like the Brazilian flag. (We looked ridiculous...) Just as we finished painting our faces (and were taking pictures) and bunch of other people came up to us and asked if they could take their pictures with us. We took the photos (much to our amusement...) and then using the two cameras that we brought with us (mine and Andreia's) we took lots of other photos. Eventually we decided to go home and called our families to come pick us up after washing the paint off of our faces. We crossed the street and sat on some benches that were close to the bus terminal.

They say hindsight is 20:20 and now, looking back, I rather wish we had gone INto the terminal, or at least near the entrance closer to the police. Andriea was painting her nails, Celina was looking at photos on Andriea's camera and I was telling them about the Hudson River Gorge and rafting, when three men came up and took our stuff before running across the street. I ended up with the only 'injury' (though you can barely call it that...) as I had been pushed down and had ripped my jeans and scrapped my knee. The police showed up rather quickly but they needed one of us to go with them to help point out the robbers. Seeing as I was the one who was the calmest (something I'm rather proud of myself for...), I jumped into the SUV with the four policemen and we took off after the men. If I wasn't so freaked out it would have been rather cool, considering that I was being involved in a police chase but I was a little bit freaked at the moment. The three men split up, one (the one holding my bag, of course...) ran towards the interior of the island, one (holding Celina's bag) ran towards the shore (which was near the bus terminal) and the last one (with Andriea's bag) ran a bit further before heading the same way. One by one the three policemen that weren't driving would say pare (which means stop) and one would jump out of the car to go chase a robber. Soon it was only me and the policeman who was driving in the car, he drove to the area behind a restaurant and after telling me to go to the restaurant, took off to help the other policemen.

I went to the restaurant and explained what happened in rather poor and panicky Portuguese. (I must admit to saying things like 'Eles tem o meu bolsa!' which means 'They have my purse!' along with the one that I think anyone would say, 'Eu quero a minha mamãe.' which means 'I want my mommy.') They got me a bottle of water and helped my calm down a bit. The officer soon came back and drove me back to the terminal where I went to the small guard station where Celina and Andriea already were. Andriea was crying and claiming that it was all her fault, to which I forced her to look in my eyes and told her that it was not her fault it was the robbers fault and we we just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Celina was also crying and I gave them both hugs and sang a little bit (okay, I sang a lot, but it seemed to help them and it passed the time...). Andriea had her phone, it was the only thing of value that wasn't taken because it was in her pocket, and she called her mom asking her to come and get her, originally she was going to go home on the bus but none of us wanted to be alone for that long.

It took a while but eventually my host parents came, they weren't aware that we had been robbed, Celina's phone had been taken and no one remembered their number, so they had to be told by people who had seen the robbery that we were in the guard station. When we saw my host mother, Celina and I gave her a big hug and then she went to go and get my host father who was still in the car. We were very happy to see both of them. We then waited for Andriea's mother to come on the bus.

While we were waiting for her, the police brought a man in that they had caught and asked us if he was one of the robbers. However, because I had only caught a brief glance of them, I couldn't be sure, it was a rather nerve-racking experience. We then sat just outside the station, in the terminal waiting for Andriea's mother.

After she arrived, all of us (including Andriea and her mother) piled into the car and went to the nearest police station (that was not an outpost or a guard station) to report what happened. Of all of us, Celina lost the most, including her exchange student ID, along with her phone, nail polish, credit card and money. Andriea lost her camera, money and nail polish. And I lost my nail polish, my hair clips, my boater's license (which I have never used...), my money, my credit card, (my library card, too, now that I think about it...) along with my camera which is why I won't be able to upload all of the stupid photos that I took of me with my face painted. I really wish I could redo yesterday but no such luck...

We took Andriea and her mother to their house before going home ourselves. When we got their, Celina said that she was seriously considering going home, I told her that I would be staying to finish out my year, even if it was just to prove to myself that I could. And when I Skyped with my family earlier today, my dad had a good point, I shouldn't allow one bad experience to ruin what has been an awesome time so far. She has since then decided to finish out her year, I have to admit I'm proud of her, she is only fifteen and it is a powerful experience to go through at that age. (In fact, now that I think about it, I was the oldest one of our small group yesterday. Andriea turned seventeen in December.)

Later that day, we went out to Pizza One for dinner and we had a good time. We then went home and went to bed, but due to the shock that was just starting to really catch up with us, we weren't able to sleep for a while. It had been a very interesting day.

It was a lesson hard learned but learned it we did: never stray from the beaten path, danger haunts the edges. I could have easily found myself on the way to the hospital yesterday and the realization that I'm all right, that neither my friends nor I was hurt, has taken a while to sink in. I am proud of myself for keeping my head in that situation and not breaking down. It was a scary experience but now, I'm safe at my host families' home and I am a fair bit wiser than I was before.

This is Kiki, signing off.
Tchau.

Visitors

Ola!

Sorry about not posting for a while, I've been busy preparing for my family's arrival in Brazil. On Friday, we met up with each other in Rio de Janeiro and spent the rest of the day relaxing in our hotel room, recovering from our flights. On Saturday, we went and saw the Christ statue and Sugarloaf Mountain. On Sunday, for Mother's Day (which is celebrated here as well), we walked almost the entire length of Copacabana beach. It was beautiful. On Monday, my birthday, we took a plane to Sao Luis where we are now staying with David's family. My family will be here until next week Monday, the twentieth of May. We are going to have a lot of fun together this week!

Tchau!
Kiki

Wait... You're Brazilain, you're supposed to know these things

Ola!

So, funny story, Celina will be staying at my host parents house for the week and yesterday, she was going to go and spend the night with Andriea at her house. However, Paulo, my host father, is sick and he's the only one who knows where Andriea's house is, so they decided that we would all go to Sao Luis Shopping, which is the biggest mall in the city meet there and then hang out before going back to my house and sleeping. It was not to be.

The mall was closed, only the bathrooms open. The reason, apparently it is a holiday, something that no one (Brazilians included) seemed to know. So we went to a different mall, Rio Anil Shopping, this time the food court and the theater was open so we thought 'hey, let's go see a movie!'. So we went inside and looked at the different movies that we could watch. Celina wanted to watch a nice, non-violent movie in English, there weren't any of those available. So we called Mardone, my family's driver, to come pick us up, got Bob's burgers (think MacDonald's) and went to my house were we all crashed around midnight, despite the fact I had to get up at six the next day.

The three of us (Andriea, Celina and I) seem to have the most random adventures everytime we try to meet up.

That's all for now folks!
Beijos!
Kiki

Writing

Ola!

So, I am officially totally awesome because I wrote an essay, in Portuguese (*does victory dance*) and a poem (okay so that wasn't entirely in Portuguese and more than half of it was in English but rhyming in another language is very hard!)! Go me! (*does epic victory dance*)

Okay, so I'm mostly posting so that people know I'm still alive down here and having a great time.

I miss all of you! Eu saudade voces!
Kiki

PS if I hear from enough people about it, I'll post either the essay, the poem or both, depending on what you guys want. Comment and tell me!

And then only four remained...

Ola!

Today, is a sad day *cue wildly overdone tears* Marie has returned to France. We will all miss her...

Major bummer. Marie had to go home so that she could study (which caused a few laughs from the exchange students because that is the exact excuse the Brazilians use every time!). We are all going to miss her, a lot. Marie will be remembered by her awesome comments and her ability to make everyone laugh almost instantly!

For other news, well actually I don't have anything abnormal to report, just school. Oh, I should probably mention that my favorite teacher's name is Alexsan and he teaches physics. I like him because he continually attempts (please note the word 'attempts' to speak in English with me, fails miserably and then says what he meant to say in Portuguese instead. It is quite funny.

Eu amo voces!
Kiki

I found my camera cord!

Ola. Eu tenho muito photos por voces!

Or in English, if you prefer...

Hello. I have lots of photos for you!

It starts with Carnival and goes until the birthday party that I went to last night with my host sister.

Kiki

Photos in Brazil, Featuring Anna, Marie, Julio, Bea, Madon, myself and various others!

Picture Day

Ola!

So, when I say picture day, I don't mean that I'll be posting photos today (sorry...). What I mean is that it was picture day in school! It was very different than what it was like in the states, mostly because of the set up. In the US they have a professional photographer come in with all of his equipment and take the photos with an elaborate backdrop. Here, on the other hand, it was far more simple. They called each class out to the room they were taking the photos and one of the professors snapped a shot with a normal camera. Nothing fancy or elaborate, just one quick shot and back to class.

Eu amo voces!
Kiki